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Book Review On: The Wedding Writer by Susan Schneider

Susan Schneider, a bridal magazine editor and writer, has spent the last ten or so years helping engaged women choose their dresses, their accessories, their flowers, their décor, their food and their fabulous wedding cakes for the Big Day. As the former executive editor of Modern Bride and Elegant Bride, she offers an insider’s peek into the bridal business and the lives of the women who work, suffer and triumph within it’s tulle-lined halls. She’s also been a editor and writer for a number of other major women’s and parenting magazines and is the co-author of two marriage and relationship books with Dr Sonya Rhodes. She lives in New York City.

Wedding writers face particular challenges, envy being one of them, especially if the writer happens to be single, as Lucky is. Who are all these smug people, thinking life is just one great big happy ever after?

It’s a different kind of ‘big day’ at Your Wedding Magazine. Lucky Quinn- once a lowly wedding writer- is thrust into the spotlight as Editor-in-chief on the same day that two of the magazine’s major competitors fold.

Sacked former editor Grace Ralston has been at the helm of Your Wedding Magazine from day one, and is now facing a lonely, uncertain and unemployed future.

Meanwhile Lucky must face the confusion and disappointment of her new staff, who are struggling with their own professional and personal issues in the wake of Grace’s departure.

For better or for worse, each women confronts her past and deals with her hectic present in this tale of women, work and the world of weddings.

My Review

The front cover for this book is perfect of this story. A pile of Your Wedding Magazines are stacked in the centre of the cover; with a pair of wedding shoes with a red soles on the top. Pink and red rose petals float down the page giving it a romantic feel. The title is in a swirly font and coloured in red; which tie’s in with the sole’s of the shoes and the floating petals. The author’s name is coloured in a navy blue and stands out well.

Your Wedding Magazine, provides brides and grooms everywhere ideas for their big day. The Magazine has just seen two of their top rivals in the wedding magazine industry. However the magazine’s sales are going down and the bosses are not happy about this.

Grace is in her fifty’s and has been working at Your Wedding Magazine since the beginning and is Chef editor. She is good at what she does; managing her co-workers in an industry very fears. Grace takes wedding writer Lucky under her wing; teaching Lucky her wisdom and expertise. Grace is single and has a strained relationship with her daughter.

Lucky is young and eager to learn and flourish in a job she dearly loves and work’s hard at. She is single and some might say married to her job! She is approached by the bosses of Your Wedding Magazine and given a promotion to chef editor, in order to shake and freshen the magazine up. But this means Grace is out the door and now finds herself jobless and heart-broken to think Lucky would do this to her without a second glance.

Lucky revels in her new job and is keen to show her bosses just what she can do for the magazine. She not only has a new swanky office but a hefty pay rise also comes her way. But she knows she is going to have to make some hard decisions in order to prove herself. The only problem is she has to work with her colleges who are understandable worried and shocked by their beloved Grace’s quick departure. They also have thing’s in their private life’s going on, but will it affect their work and possible their job? Can Lucky manage her worried colleges after what she has done to Grace? Does she feel bad at all? Will Lucky’s bosses be impressed by her ability to manage her work and fellow colleges? Can she improve the magazine’s numbers?

Mean while Grace is struggling with no work, bad heath and has a relationship with her daughter that is rocky. Will Grace’s health get sorted? Can she find another job with another magazine perhaps? Will she be able to build bridges with her daughter?

I found The Wedding Magazine by Susan Schneider a fast pacing story and gives the reader an in-depth insight into the world of wedding magazine industry. Gosh it’s really is a dog eat dog world industry, with people stepping on others toes just to get to the top. I certainly couldn’t do it that’s for sure. As in-depth as it was it was maybe a bit much, I sometimes felt overwhelmed with it all and it took a bit of enjoyment out of reading at times. This novel is certainly an eye-opener in to the magazine world and how fears it is. All the characters are all very different, and bring their own lives it to the story. The description was really out of this world and you can certainly tell Susan has worked in the industry for a long time, she knows what she’s talking about!

All in all I did enjoy the story line but as I said earlier I felt overwhelmed with the in-depthness of this industry.